Pentagon: US troops will stay in Iraq.
A Pentagon staffer who assisted in compiling the report, told Newsweek that US troops would remain in Iraq until the end of the operation on December 31.
A Pentagon staffer who assisted in compiling the report, told Newsweek that US troops would remain in Iraq after the end of hostilities on December 31.
In an interview with Newsweek, Pentagon spokeswoman Jessica McNalati said the United States had not changed its position and did not intend to withdraw completely from Iraq.
“The United States will abide by the commitments made during the US-Iraq Strategic Dialogue,” he said. One of those commitments is that by the end of this year, no American forces will be left on a combat mission.
“US forces will remain in Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government to play a consulting, assisting and exchanging role to assist Iraqi security forces in the fight against ISIS,” he added.
During a visit to Bahrain a few days ago, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told the Iraqi Defense Minister that no US troops would remain in Iraq until the end of this year.
A statement from the Pentagon stated that “the two countries will discuss the next phase of the US military mission in Iraq, which will focus on consulting, assisting and exchanging intelligence with Iraqi security forces in support of the ISIL defeat operation.” “They commented.”
The Iraqi parliament passed a resolution in December 1998 following the US military’s assassination of Maj. Gen. Haj Qassem Soleimani, former commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, former deputy head of al-Hashd al-Shabi, near Baghdad airport. Which considers the presence of foreign troops in Iraq illegal.
